Laughter: Not Always the Best Medicine
An event for Stuff White People Like exposes some problems with the popular book and blog.By Saxon Baird
August 15, 2008
At a recent reading at the Politics & Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C., Christian Lander, author of the new book Stuff White People Like, joked about internships, grad schools, and indie rock—all stuff, Lander says, white people really, really like. And if laughter is any indication, the room full of mostly white 20 and 30-somethings seemed to agree.
Earlier this year, Lander, a red-headed Canadian who lives and works in Los Angeles, became somewhat of an Internet celebrity when he started publishing his blog, Stuff White People Like. The site—a pseudo-anthropological study cum satire—documents what a certain type of upper-middle class, educated white person likes (dinner parties) and doesn’t like (typos on menus). Because of his blog’s popularity, Lander is now considered one of the web’s iconic embodiments of white identity.
Not everyone likes Lander’s shtick and, at the reading, he was quick to acknowledge that. But he was also quick to respond, “So let me get this straight, you’re getting angry about someone making broad generalizations about your race? Hm, I think we know some people who can probably relate.”
It was his best point of the night. Lander seemed to understand that his jokes straddle a thin line between satire and barbarity, and that, when poking fun at an entire race, context and self-awareness really matter. As Lander asserted, he skewers a privileged racial group in a “non-hateful way.” And even if some people are offended by his jokes, he said that wasn’t his intent.
Lander explained that “keeping up with the Joneses” today isn’t about having a bigger house and driving a better car. It’s about being more liberal and having a smaller carbon footprint. Stuff White People Like is supposed to make people realize this elitism is a bit purposeless. Lander himself admits that he, too, plays this game. By making fun of über-hip, eco-conscious white folks, he’s calling himself out in a way.
But as the reading wound down, I found myself feeling increasingly uncomfortable and self-conscious. “I got a joke about unpaid internships in the South that went by a different name—but I won’t go there,” Lander deadpanned as the crowd erupted into the biggest laugh of the night. To me, this comment crossed the line. Making a joke about slavery to a room full of white people seemed, well, problematic, to say the least. And by the end of the reading, it seemed worth asking: Is Stuff White People Like just another humorous way for a group of privileged folks to feel better about themselves without taking on the responsibility to make the situation better?
Later, as Lander signed books for a long line of fans, three black women in the audience expressed doubt about Lander’s message. They worried that, whether Lander intends it to or not, Stuff White People Like may represent more of a setback on issues of race and class than most of Lander’s fans realize.
One of the women, a teacher, admitted that the blog makes her challenge her own sense of identity, but not necessarily in a good way. Many of the things Landers says white people like are things she also enjoys. Which leads her to wonder: Does her love of coffee and sweaters make her less black?
One of the other black women noted that by identifying what is “white,” Lander is also defining what is "not white." That, she argued, can reinforce classist and racist attitudes. By claiming something elitist is by default “white,” Lander implies that such elitist affinities do not belong to other racial groups. For example, Lander claims perfect grammar as evidence of “whiteness.” If that’s true, is poor grammar a black thing? And by arguing that going to graduate school is white, isn’t Lander reinforcing assumptions about the kind of people that fill the ranks of academia?
Certainly, white people should be able to talk about “whiteness” without having to parse every aspect of their conversations. How else can we expect white people to deal with the issues that surround race relations in modern America? The problem with the folks at the book signing was that they seemed to be laughing about stereotypes without acknowledging a key component that allows racism to continue: the inability of a person in an advantageous position (like a white person) to recognize privilege.
This strikes at the problem of Stuff White People Like. Lander and company seem aware of the complications of their elitist attitudes but don’t care about changing them. It’s okay to laugh at Lander’s satire, of course, but white readers need to be self-aware and self-critical about why they are laughing, too.
As I walked out of the bookstore discussing this with the three black audience members, the young teacher said, “I’d like to see Lander give a book reading to a room full of non-white people. Somehow I think the reactions would be much different.”
But, then, when I asked if I could use her name in this article, she replied, “I work for white people. I don’t want to give you my name and get fired!”
Saxon Baird is an Editorial Intern at Campus Progress and a recent graduate of Portland State University.
Social Bookmarking
--------
Comments
My problem with “Stuff White People Like” is that all the things listed aren’t specific to white people as much as they’re specific to upper- or upper-middle-class, educated people of any race. They’re stereotypes that certainly benefit from being satirized, but maybe Lander hasn’t picked quite the right demographic to do it in.
— Emily R. - Aug 15, 02:48 PM - #You said it Saxon, it is all about recognizing privilege. Stuff White People Like always bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Your article made me realize that it’s blatant disregard for issues of privilege that bugged me so much.
— Tommaso - Aug 15, 03:00 PM - #You are totally legit, Mr. Baird.
— Madeline Enos - Aug 15, 04:33 PM - #Are you people for real? You are about six months behind the rest of the haters (who have already made these arguments).
To the people who are self-conscious and uncomfortable: sorry you’re so predictable. It does hurt to find out you are just like everyone else.
If you can’t handle this, good luck with life.
— Sean - Aug 15, 06:51 PM - #What really bugs me about SWPL is its implication that socially-responsible behavior is elitist and status-driven. No, a lot of people are just trying to do the right thing based on reason and a sense of moral responsibility.
He’s doing a big, fat favor for right-wing pundits like David “Bobos in Paradise” Brooks who make a living smearing progressives as “elitists” while ignoring the real elitists.
— Jen Sorensen - Aug 16, 10:53 AM - #great article.
SWPL could have been insightful and clever on some level, but instead it simply declares things such as “white people like coffee” on a planet where almost everyone in the industrialized world drinks it every morning and it is seen as some sort of hilarious observation.
Putting aside the deeper questions of privilege, it simply isn’t funny or original.
It’s the kind of comedy the worst stand-ups use: Black people sure can dance better than whites; boy, aren’t wives annoying.
Which leads me to my observation of what white hipsters like: stale humor.
— Matt Bors - Aug 17, 10:52 PM - #great article saxon. to me, the biggest irony resulting from the SWPL fallout were the copycat blogs that came out for other races. i mean really? it defeats the purpose.
— Jian - Aug 18, 06:52 PM - #stuff white people like, to me, sits alongside borat, because both give educated but mentally lazy americans (mostly white) a way to laugh at something they maybe SHOULD feel uncomfortable about (racism, second-world confusion at first-world problems, culture clash), and gives the viewers an out instead of actually dealing with their own reactions. cheap! artless! i’ll go without, thanks.
— matt - Aug 21, 06:30 PM - #I totally understand the legitimate concerns raised by Saxon, the black woman, and commenters here. But isn’t the joke not necessarily the title “White People like Coffee,” but the witty explanation for why. Landers is tapping into the tastes of ambitious college-educated liberals who live on the coasts, and calls them ‘white people’ only because the majority of folks in that category happen to be white. Of course the black teacher is going to share these tastes, and she’s no less ‘black’ for doing so. She’s simply a college-educated liberal living on the East coast.
— RashiKesarwani - Aug 21, 06:32 PM - #perhaps its been diluted with time and repetition, but the first time i read this blog, it was a moment of “i can’t believe he is saying these things!” it walked that precarious line between entertaining and offending but more importantly, it exposed a stereotype that perhaps needs a little reality check from time to time. god knows we all do. while it certainly runs the risk of swinging too far into the domain into excusing or trivializing issues of inequality that do come down on racial (and other socio-economic) lines, this is still a method of stirring the pot, of getting us over our fear of talking about things like “race” and “stereotypes”, and perhaps making it feasible to consider them in a more constructive manner.
— kelly marie - Aug 21, 08:09 PM - #Still love SWPL. Guilty pleasure. I know, for all the reasons you listed, that I shouldn’t like it. But I will continue to revel in the self-deprecation of it.
— Emily - Aug 21, 08:09 PM - #OK, first off, I think the SWPL blog is hilarious, and it made me think about the ways that I try to be better than other people by having expensive coffee, volunteering, wearing scarves, etc. But come on people. Its comedy. And a blog. How seriously can you take these things? I really fear that liberal america has no sense of humor left, and when you can’t make fun of yourself, you aren’t fun anymore.
— Billy F - Aug 22, 10:18 AM - #I give SWPL one kudo and that is, that it acknowledges that stereotypes exist for “White America.” However, the chosen list of stereotypes are questionable for “whiteness” after all they generally seem positive? Almost as an attempt to “Un-White” white poverty. As if to say that poverty can not be white. Someone further up the ladder said that what Lander is describing is really college educate hipster people from one of the coasts. Than perhaps his title should change? As a biracial (“Looks White”) person who has moved from the rural non-coastal to the city coastal I can tell you A)white people can be poor. B)Young white males consume more than 70% of rap music. Yet I didn’t see anything discussing how White America currently or historically co opts realities of other cultural groups. How about that for a white stereotype? or C)If we are really only talking about Neo-liberal White America are we not forgetting a Huge chunk of white America and all of the stereotypes that go along with the refusal to trade in your SUV for a hybrid, because you can afford the gas?
— Sean - Aug 22, 07:57 PM - #I can see how saying things like education are “liked” by white people implies something negative about the education levels of people of color, and that’s unfortunate. But, the point of SWPL is not to simply say this “stuff” is only enjoyed by whites, but to poke fun at the snobbishness associated with these things. It’s essentially a big joke about status markers, and ways that white people assert their superiority and validity, and for that reason, I find it hilarious. (And by the way, I’m white, I just think we deserve to be checked every now and then.)
— Laura - Aug 24, 03:08 PM - #